


Letters

by the_girl_without_a_face



Series: BBXR [19]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Pre-World War II Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-26 23:15:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20397751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_girl_without_a_face/pseuds/the_girl_without_a_face
Summary: Bucky and Reader's story told by an unusual POV throught the years.





	Letters

The mail was the most used way of communication in times of war.

Hell, it was the only way of communications between military and the civilians, the ones that protected and the ones protected.

Soldiers would very often write to their families and friends, their families would most certainly write them back.

New York City had various mailmen back in the 40s. Each of them had a designed number of letters to deliver in a certain perimeter.

The man who delivered the letters to half of Brooklyn was an old, very pleasant one. He was always in a mood for a talk, despite his tiring job. He did it whether the sun was melting streets or snow was all the way to the knees.

Delivering the letters was his job and he’d get it done, no matter what.

He was designed to that specific area due to his own residence. He himself had lived in Brooklyn all of his life, born and raised. He had a passion for the place, a feeling he adored whenever he looked to the streets, the buildings, the people, and even the sky.

Not long after the United States joined World War II, a boy he had known for quite some years joined the Army. Said man was several years younger than him, in fact, had just left boyhood, and was also born and raised in Brooklyn.

The man was James Buchanan Barnes.

He had known the Barnes since Mr. and Mrs. Barnes got married and moved to Brooklyn. Soon he met their first born, James. His sister came a few years later.

He had watched the young boy play with several other children from the neighborhood, until he met another boy.

A scrawny, blonde boy also born in Brooklyn, whose parents the man had also met after their marriage.

Steven Grant Rogers.

The man watched in delight as the two boys met and quickly became friends, inseparable, always had each other’s back. They reminded him of himself and his best-friend, a man he had lost during the first Great War, along with Steve’s father.

Nevertheless, years went by and Bucky and Steve got older. They never distanced and stayed like that even on dates.

Until of course, Bucky found himself in love. Steve laughed the first time he pointed that out, claiming he never thought it would happen.

She had a great personality, sharp answers and knew how to handle herself in a difficult world.

Her name was [Y/F/n].

Her grandfather was man’s gone friend, God rest his soul.

He watched as the two boys talked about pretty girls, how the older they got, more Bucky seemed to talk about [Y/n]. He would always smile at the innocence of young love.

He was sitting in a chair in his house’s porch when he heard Bucky complimenting her, smiling a bit wider than he did with other girls. She arched an eyebrow at him, turned and walked away. Bucky’s mouth hung open for a good minute before he realized he was in public.

Then he processed what happened, frowned, buried his hands on his pockets and kicked a rock.

She knew he was a ladiesman, that he always had a new date. The man knew it too. So he gestured to Bucky before the boy walked away.

He asked the boy about what had happened, which earned him an explanation about how he said some nice words before asking her out. Again. Differently from the last time, she didn’t knocked the door on his nose.

The man asked if he meant said words. The boy never hesitated before nodding and saying he meant every letter. So the man decided to help. He asked what the girl’s favorite flower was. Bucky didn’t know the answer. The man told Bucky to leave a flower by your window every day, each day a different kind. Bucky thanked the man before running to buy the first of many flowers.

He did for eleven days, each one of them made the girl pick up the flower, look around her house for any visible admirer and go back home. On the twelfth day, a smile stretched over the girl’s cheeks as she saw her favorite flower. She didn’t try to hide how happy she was with her admirer’s persistence.

She wasn’t surprise when Bucky knocked on her door that afternoon asking her out on a date. Differently from the last time, she didn’t walk away. She said yes.

The boy went straight to the man’s house wearing a wide smile on his face. He excitedly explained the situation and thanked the man profusely. The man only laughed and wished him good luck for his date.

On Friday night, the man observed as Bucky walked up the footsteps of her house, checked his suit one last time and knocked, right on time. The girl was the most beautiful one Bucky had ever laid his eyes on. He offered her a bucket of her favorite flowers, which she thanked him for it before placing them on a vase with the other one. He offered her his hand and brought her knuckles to his lips while bowing slightly once she covered his hand with hers. The man nodded in approval.

They came back ten minutes before her curfew, the happiness of her father. Bucky asked her father’s permission to take her on a second date.

Which happened the next Friday, which added more flowers to the vase.

On their fourth date, the man could tell Bucky was nervous. And with reason, after all, he was about to kiss the girl right on her front porch.

Her father knew what was happening and decided to step away from the window in order to give them some privacy. He liked Bucky enough.

The man watched as their relationship developed. She knew Steve, they had some classes together, and soon the three of them were inseparable.

The proposal came a couple of years after high school graduation. And after Bucky asked Mr. [Y/L/n] for her hand, of course.

A letter was personally delivered by the couple, an invitation for the wedding. The girl thanked the man for knocking some sense in Bucky’s mind years before, after he told her who the idea of the flowers had come from.

In their grand day, she wore a beautiful white dress and a bouquet very similar to the one Bucky gave her on their first date. The boy almost shed some tears when his eyes laid upon her angelical figure. Steve, who stood beside the groom as a best man, had to bury his elbow on Bucky’s ribcage to bring him back to reality.

When the bells announced the end of the ceremony, the couple had the most brilliant and widest smile plastered on their faces. They got a house right across the man.

Not long after such happy moments, the World War II took place. And soon the United States joined. They asked for everyone’s help, in every possible way. From children to collect scrap metal, to deliver news to and from the front and fight.

In 1943, James Buchanan Barnes got his orders. He had completed military training and had the official patent of Sergeant James B. Barnes.

After he got his uniform and saved Steve from a fight, he made his way home to pick up his wife. The woman looked more beautiful every time she came into Bucky’s view. She wore Bucky’s favorite dress, he one he bought her on their first and only anniversary. Her hair was in loose curls, her eyes sharpened by little dark make up and her lips claimed to be kissed in the crimson tone they were painted.

Her eyes were slightly red. She tried to hide it, she knew how hard the situation already was for her husband. But then she saw him a Sergeant’s uniform and a sob escaped her mouth.

Bucky pulled her to his chest, kissing her forehead and holding her tightly in his arms. She clanged to him as if her life depended on it. And it did. As much as his depended on hers.

Which was the main reason he enlisted. He wanted to do his part in protecting the ones he loved, especially his wife. There were men laying down their lifes out there, if he wasn’t brave enough to do the same, he didn’t deserve her.

So they went to the Stark Exposition: The World of Tomorrow. Steve was accepted in the Army, Bucky and [Y/n] went dancing and came back to share their last night together for what could be a long time.

The next day, after Bucky shipped out for England early in the morning, Steve came home to keep [Y/n] company. That day she knew something was up with Steve and bugged him to tell her whatever it was. That day, she discovered not only her husband would be in the war, but her best friend too.

A week later, the man went by the Barnes’ residence to deliver a letter. He smiled as he noticed where it was from. Apparently, Bucky had settled in camp.

[Y/n] didn’t wait to get back home to rip it open and sob as she read the letter, happiness that she had heard from her husband for the first time in what seemed an eternity.

A letter from him came every day, the same rate as a letter from her was sent. They kept the rhythm for weeks, him telling her about his friends and training and her telling him about home.

Letters would come and go, until one day a letter didn’t arrive.

The man was worried and walked slowly in front of the house, never stopping to give Mrs. Barnes a much awaited letter. She stood by the window, waiting, as she did day after day. He looked at her form the street and shook his head, saying there were no letters for her. Her heart skipped a beat before she felt her stomach dropping to her feet. Her breathing became loud and hollow. She slept crying that night.

The next day, two letters came. Two from Sergeant James Barnes. [Y/n] read the letters from Bucky first, one was dirty with smoke and slightly burned at the edges, which sent her heart in a race. The second explained that the man responsible for gathering the letters and delivering them was new. Therefore, he lost the bag of letters and himself in the not-so-large area of the camp. Her laugh was loud once she read Bucky reassure her he was fine. He told her how much he loved her and how he missed her by his side, but that he was happy that she was safe back at home. She then put her hands in action and wrote him how she missed her at home, how she wanted him to hold her and tell her everything would be okay.

She never once mentioned Steve, as the young blonde man asked her to. She had indeed heard of his unusual ‘training’, experiment and was shocked to see a photo of him in the newspaper. She kept securely in a memory box she shared with her husband.

A month later, the man delivered her a letter from the Army instead of from Bucky. He squeezed her shoulder gently before turning and leaving. With trembling hands and unsteady feet, her heart hammering her ribcage, her breathing unabling her from hearing anything else, she sat down in a chair.

The letter told her the news: Bucky’s squadron had been captured and presumed dead behind enemy lines.

The man came by her house that night, offering a hot cup of tea upon seeing her puffy red eyes. They sat in silence at the kitchen table. He bid her goodbye and made his way home, sad that the young couple’s story had ended so yearly. She went to bed and spent hours gripping Bucky’s clothes, trying to fill the hole his death brought to her chest. Her tears never stopped falling, not even after she slept.

She wondered if he had been in pain, if it had been quick, if he was afraid, if he thought of her, but of one thing she was certain: Bucky Barnes died bravely.

It was all she could believe, because not even her country knew what had happened to him.

By the end of the week, she received another two letters. One from the Army and one from Steve. She found it odd that Steve had sent her a letter. They had exchanged letters before, she shouldn’t be surprised really. She read the one from the Army first.

She had to do it a couple more times before she finally made sense out of the words. Captain America, aka Steve, rescued the whole 107th.

Steve rescued Bucky from behind the enemy lines.

Bucky was alive.

She quickly ripped the second letter open and her smile almost ripped her face when she read the first words. They were Bucky’s usual greeting toward her. ‘Doll’, it said, ‘I’m sorry.’ He apologized for worrying her, for making her think he was dead. He guaranteed that he had no major injuries and that he missed her.

The rhythm of letter came back.

The man happily delivered letters to the Barnes residence daily, always smiling to see the young lady smiling wildly as she read the words her beloved husband wrote.

A month later, there was no letter for the young wife. Instead, footprints were left on the soft snow and footsteps were heard on the front porch twenty minutes before the man usually came. A hand drummed the front door.

She gasped when she opened the door. Her hand went to her mouth as her eyes widened. She screamed his name as she threw herself in his arms. His strong limbs embraced her strongly, careful still not to hurt her. She had her arms in a lock-death around his neck. Raising her from the ground, he walked into the house. Tears prickled his eyes as he took in the scents that surrounded him and the warmth that eradiated from her. He pulled her away just so he could see her eyes and then kiss her as he had wanted to do since the moment he left. Steve got there a few hours later and joined them for diner. [Y/n] thanked him for saving Bucky’s life.

They were supposed to leave in two days. A couple of days that went by so fast.

During one afternoon, while Bucky and Steve were taking a nap, she sneaked out. She had something to do and she couldn’t miss it.

The day the soldiers were packing, so was she. Bucky and Steve exchanged confused looks before Bucky asked what she was doing. Her answer was simple: she refused to let them leave without her. Bucky shook his head, fear very clear in his eyes. He said she couldn’t, that she had to stay home, stay safe, so he could come back to her. She then explained that she didn’t have a choice.

She couldn’t live without knowing if they were coming back, if they were okay, if they needed help. And that now was too late, since she had already talked to an important woman who was very eager to help her. Peggy Carter. The men gaped at the name. Bucky wanted her to stay more than anything, but there was nothing he could do to make her stay.

When she wanted something, she wouldn’t rest until she got it. It was one Bucky’s favorites characteristics in her, but God was he pissed at it now.

He waved from his front porch the day three figures left the house. The now grown children smiled and waved back. The man watched from his window as James Buchanan Barnes, [Y/n] Barnes and Steven Grant Rogers walked down the streets of Brooklyn one last time, ready to protect their country

He accompanied whatever news from the trio he could get his hands on. He was impressed to see the little girl took an important part in Intelligence, close to Agent Carter.

The man read in the newspaper when James Buchanan Barnes was confirmed dead in action. He could only imagine what [Y/n] was feeling, to lose her husband a second time. He had promised Bucky during their time in the war that if anything happened to Sergeant, Steve would take care of [Y/n]. After Bucky’s death, he swore to that until his last breath. So he took her on missions. She was trained, highly trained. Smart too. And motivated. Characteristics he could use in his missions.

Not much time went by before he read the news of Captain America’s death.

A woman came to visit the man one day. Although beautiful, her eyes were filled with sadness. Her name was Peggy Carter. She told the man the girl was with Steve in the plane that disappeared in the ice.

In that moment, the man understood why he never saw the girl again.

Seventy years went by.

After being defrosted, Steve Rogers and [Y/n] [Y/L/n] had a visit to do: the cemetery. One of the many graves was the man that accompanied the beginning of their story. He was harder to find, as he wasn’t in the military.

The girl sank to her knees as she read his date of birth and death, noticing how apart they truly were. She chuckled in between her tears. Steve carefully placed his hand on her shoulder and asked why. She sniffed and told Steve she never thought the man was the age he actually was back when they lived in Brooklyn, she compared the man to the two of them. Steve joined in her chuckle, missing the good old times.

The attack in New York was something that made the duo start the Avengers, along with others of World’s Mightiest Heroes.

They should have learnt that nothing was impossible by. That a serum was created for Steve to be a better soldier, they both survived seven decades frozen and that a bunch of extraordinary and dangerous people could live under the same roof only complaining mildly and a once upon a week huge fight.

So why were they shocked to see Bucky Barnes alive? He showed up in Washington, Steve would recognize him any given day.

Their story was a messed up one from this point one, since Bucky didn’t seem to remember Steve or [Y/n]. Although the supersoldier tried to appear strong, she knew he was hurting as much as her. His best friend didn’t recognize him.

They knew they had a chance of bringing Bucky back when the Winter Soldier saved Steve’s life, by dragging his body out of the river. [Y/n] was less injured, she managed to swim with only a bit of assistance from the confused man.

And then said man left them at the shore.

He felt a tsunami of emotions inside of him, half of him engaged in a battle against his other half. Part of him claimed he knew the duo, that they were important somehow, while the other part begged for him to finish his mission.

It took them years to find him again.

Because when supersoldier, master assassin, skilled spy decided to hide, finding them was not an easy task.

Between the division of the once so strong team and political accords, Steve, Bucky and [Y/n] found themselves in Siberia. Tony Stark learned the truth about his parents’ death and seeked revenge. At the same time, T’Chala let go of his own.

Injured, the trio was taken to Wakanda. Bucky claimed as he didn’t have control of his own mind, going back under was the best thing for everybody. Both Steve and [Y/n] understood his choice and respected it, seeing it was one of the few he was able to make in the last seventy years.

After the Sokovian Accords were settled in a much looser way and Bucky recovering, the trio sat together. Steve and [Y/n] tried to trigger Bucky’s memories with words and past events. The Winter Soldier often recognized the stories, filling in with a detail or two.

Steve was silent for a second, his eyebrows furrowed together. When [Y/n] asked the reason, he asked if she still had them. Bucky didn’t know what ‘them’ mean, but [Y/n] quickly rose and went to her room. She dug her bag until she found it. Her fingers traced the silver patterns gingerly, remembering how many times she had to pack the box and take with her to everywhere she went.

She went back to Steve and Bucky and handed her husband the box. A box filled with letters.

After he observed them for almost an hour, his eyes darted back to her. With his voice hoarse, he asked why she kept them all those years. She simply smiled and gripped his first letter and the one he sent after Steve rescued him. She quietly answered they gave her hope.

Then and there, with Steve and [Y/n] by his side, he felt hope for the first time in many years.

**Author's Note:**

> Come play with me on [Tumblr](https://the-girl-without-a-face.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
